Overall Member Rating

From a Teen's Perspective

I recently (Aug 31- Sept 7) took a 7 night cruise to the Western Caribbean with my family. I can't say for my parents, but I LOVED IT. it was definitely a memorable cruise, to say the least.

Embarkation

We rented a car in Florida, so we took a shuttle from the car dealer (is that what you would call it?) to the port. A little hectic, but we all managed. once we got there, we proceeded through customs (which took maybe 15 mins TOPS). after customs, we had to check in. everything went really smoothly and we were on the ship within a half hour of getting to the port. i was amazed, as this was my second cruise ever (first on Dis) and this was probably the fastest embarkation ever.

Entertainment

There was DEFINITELY enough to do on the ship. The pool was "meh" at best, as it got disgustingly cloudy, crowded, and began to smell after the first few days. Yes it SMELLED. Horrible. The Aquaduck never seemed to have an overly long line, which was GREAT. More
unfortunately, we encountered 20+ mph winds, so it was closed 90% of the time. The shows were AMAZING. Like i can't even begin to describe them. the movies however, were 'meh". they showed the same movies over and over, and there were only 3 movies playing. they were Monsters Uni, Planes, and The Lone Ranger, playing on different days alternating between 3D and not 3D. i can safely say that i have seen Planes at least 6 times, and Lone Ranger 2 times. i wish i was kidding.

Dining

I loved having the same waitstaff each night. They were SOOOOOO nice and friendly. The only thing that i didn't like (but didn't hate either) was when the head waiter tried "setting me up" with the boy at the table next to us. it was funny, and the kid seemed nice, but it was awkward with my parents after. We ended up with a 6 person table with a 3 person party (due to error or something, i didn't mind) and that meant that we got a window seat every DR except for Animators Palate. The food on the first night was amazing and seemed to slowly regress as the days went on, so much that they had us eating "corn 3 ways" on the last night. it was probably the weirdest thing I've ever eaten.

Excursions

In Costa Maya, we went to a Jungle Beach Break. Awful. The beach was disgusting (there were plastic cups and food on the sand), and i got stung by a jellyfish. i know that it was not the resort's fault, but it sort of just killed the rest of my day. In Cozumel, we went on a Horse Back Tour. This was wonderful, even though we rode through a torrential downpour and were swarmed by mosquitos. Again, that could not have been prevented, but it was a wonderful excursion and the people were nice and cheerful throughout the tour. But my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE excursion was the Stingray City Snorkel Excursion in Grand Cayman. This was AMAZING. The water was so warm, the people so friendly, and the stingrays were just awesome. they would swim right up to you and you could pet them. they were, basically, "big, slimy puppies". It was just absolutely amazing.

Sailing

this was interesting. The first few days, there was smooth sailing, calm water, and bright blue sky. a few days later however, there was a "tropical depression", and that caused the waves to be QUITE rough. so, pretty much, you could constantly feel the ship rocking. For at least 2 days, you weren't allowed on the jogging path, as it flooded and the ship was rocking too much. YAY.

Thats pretty much it! Fabulous vacation, but bit could have been better. Less